Independence MO lawyer John Carnes indicted on tax evasion

John C. Carnes, an Independence law firm and longtime political operative, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two felonies related to tax evasion.

Carnes, 67, is billed with felony tax evasion and felony obstruction alongside with 6 misdemeanor counts of failure to pay back cash flow tax, federal prosecutors introduced Wednesday afternoon. The federal indictment against Carnes was handed down Tuesday and made community subsequent his arrest Wednesday early morning.

Just after an preliminary courtroom look in the Western District of Missouri Kansas Metropolis, Carnes was unveiled on bond.

Federal prosecutors allege Carnes averted having to pay money taxes in between 2012 and 2018. He is also accused of trying to disguise his tax legal responsibility by preserving cash for individual bills in an lawyer believe in, a economic account supposed to be made use of solely for representation of clientele.

Carnes owes at least $343,469 in again taxes for the years in between 2012 and 2018, authorities allege.

Arrived at by phone Wednesday evening for remark, Carnes mentioned: “I’ve generally represented my clientele aggressively and efficiently inside moral boundaries.

“The FBI has been investigating me for about 30 a long time,” Carnes stated. “And I’m 67 years outdated, and they had to appear up with anything right before I passed on.

They have appear up with a thing, and we’ll go to courtroom and see what that something is.”

Carnes, a former Jackson County legislator and member of the Independence City Council, has been concerned in lawful hassle in advance of.

In 1989, he pleaded responsible to paying out a bribe to a member of the Independence Metropolis Council for the official’s assist of a zoning matter involving a browsing heart. He also admitted to offering untrue info on a financial institution personal loan in 1987.

Sentenced to 5 yrs in jail, Carnes served two right before his release on parole in 1991. His Missouri legislation license was revoked and later reinstated in 2006.

In spite of his legal issues, Carnes has remained a force in Independence politics for many years.

In accordance to Wednesday’s indictment, Carnes deposited $232,000 in charges acquired for solutions furnished by the former Rockwood Golfing Study course and the Missouri City Energy Plant into his legal professional have faith in accounts. Authorities allege that was completed in an try to protect against the IRS from gathering cash Carnes owed on cash flow taxes.

The Rockwood Golf Study course and Missouri City Energy Plant projects have been resources of controversy in Independence Metropolis Corridor. And the indictment declared Wednesday arrives years after The Star to start with documented that the FBI was asking questions about controversial deals involving Independence’s municipal government.

In May possibly 2020, The Star noted that a federal grand jury subpoenaed minutes of the closed meetings of the Independence Town Council in which the entire body reviewed the destiny of the Missouri Town Ability Plant.

Expense reimbursements sought by the FBI showed that two former council associates, Curt Dougherty and Tom Van Camp, satisfied extra than a dozen periods for taxpayer-funded meals at various area dining establishments to discuss town business amongst Oct 2015 and February 2017, when Missouri Town was put out for bid. That involved a conference with Carnes on July 18, 2016, at Independence’s Café Verona.

The decommissioning of that coal-fired electric powered-plant, owned by the city’s utility organization, captivated controversy mainly because of the conclusion by a bulk of the Metropolis Council to award a agreement to a agency termed Environmental Functions, which bid $9.75 million to do the challenge. Another enterprise, Industrial Liability Companions, submitted a bid for $4.45 million.

Environmental Operations experienced political connections: Its general counsel was previous Missouri Residence Speaker John Diehl, who resigned in 2015 for sending sexually charged text messages to an intern.

The metropolis has faced similar controversies in excess of other electrical power initiatives.

In 2020, a selection of companies led by Titan Fish Associates LLC submitted a proposal to repurpose the Blue Valley Municipal Ability Generating Plant in northeast Independence into a biofuels generation facility. Titan Fish is led by Kansas trader Joe Campbell. Also provided in the proposal was Steve Tilley, a statehouse lobbyist and previous Missouri Residence speaker who is a longtime close friend and adviser to Gov. Mike Parson.

In 2017, the metropolis council voted to order the former Rockwood Golfing Club for virtually $1 million from Titan Fish, just months right after it experienced procured the property for $550,000 from a firm that had owned the closed golfing training course for several years. It has given that created a photo voltaic farm on the site.

The dollars used to order the golf club came from a different Tilley lobbying client, the city’s utility, Independence Electricity & Mild.